WOW.... ok, so my stuff came today (instead of tomorrrow) I figure, I will not worry about the memory, 768mb is plenty for the 2400+ and everything else.... So I unhooked my computer, spent almost 2 hours cleaning all the dust out etc... I have the 5.25" bay fans installed and the HDD cooler thingy..... first i added the extra memory so I had 768mb (3 x 256mb) I didn't notice a big performance differnce (not like going from 128mb to 256mb on my old P3 500 system.... but computers were a littl emore "fun back 4 years ago..." Anyway... I can't believe a differnce this new graphics card made.... when I first had the memory installed I ran a benchmark.... no noticeable differnce, and when the results came back it was 760.... pathetic... I really hoped it was the dated GeForce 2 MX400 and not the rest of the system...... well, when I ran the bench test with the FX 5200 and the 768mb of memor.....omg, instantly I knew there was a huge differnce.... plus with the GF2, it wasn't able to do about half the tests (hardware didn't support it) so I don't know if that was good bad or neutral on the ratings..... the LOWEST the fps came to was about 22fps... (if you are familer with 3D Mark 2001 SE) it was in the "car chase" scene with alot of explosions and things moving, and in the dragon one with all the fire... even at that point it wasn't choppy (with the GF2, the fps would go down to 3-4 durring these scenes) the only other times the car seemed to have trouble was the "nature" thing (which the GF2 didn't support) as the fps was about 16 the whole time, and with the carosel thing with 7 lights, it was choppy..... but with 1 light it was amazing (while the GF2 was choppy as hell with 1 light)...... I just gotta say, for being one of the lowest model new cards out there, I love this thing, I can't beliee how much of a vast improvment it is over the GF2.... I honestly didn't think it would be this much. It just makes me think what the higher model cards can do.... but in it's day the GF2 MX400 wasn't really a budget card.... especally the 64mb version it was kinda mid-grade..... well, I am actually going to be having my old system all back now since I am not sing any more of the parts in my current computer (slot 1 P3 500, 256mb ram, GF2, 17gb maxtor hdd) and use it upstairs or something (for a P3 500, that was crazy online)
but I can't believe the new graphics card.... it made MUCH more of a differnce then the extra memory.... but I needed the memory anyway..... so I will definitly hold onto this card for awhile, maybe in the future get a current gen top of the line card (which by then would be an older model) for cheaper..... I kinda wanted to swtich to ATi (they are kinda parnets with IBM, that is neat) but this is the 2nd time I have gone with nVidia and very happy..... I guess I am a nVidia fan
Thanks for all the help everyone! I really apperciate it, my schedual is very, very packed, but I will make it a note to stop back often and try to help people out aswell.... thanks again.
